Mason McTavish was recently named as a player that could be a trade candidate by Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, and when you look over his body of work it is hard not to get a case of Déjà vu. McTavish is 23 years old, and if the New York Rangers were to acquire him, it would offer them a chance to try and catch lightning in a bottle a decade after making a similar trade.
McTavish is in similar spot as Mika Zibanejad
At the time he was traded to the Rangers, Zibanejad was a 23 year old with 151 points in 281 games with the Ottawa Senators. He had a career high of 51 points in 81 games, and was traded the same year he accomplished that feat. He went to New York in exchange for Derrick Brassard, and the rest has been history up until this point.
McTavish turned 23 in January, and has 181 points in 304 games with the Ducks. His career high in points during a single season is 52 points in 76 games, and he also has season in which he's tallied 43, 42, and 41 points. To this point he's shown more promise than Zibanejad, who like McTavish, was a lottery pick. McTavish went 3rd overall in 2021, Zibanejad went 6th in 2011.
The biggest difference between the two players is that McTavish already was given a contract that pays him $7 million for the next five years, whereas Zibanejad made $2,625,000 his first year in New York before signing a deal that paid him $5.35 million a year for five seasons.
Zibanejad's deal represented 7.13 percent of the salary cap at the time, and McTavish's deal is worth 7.33 percent. In a way, that is almost a plus for the Rangers because if he is the player they think he can be, he's locked in on a deal that will be more of a value as time goes on. There's an inherent risk in taking a chance on a player being paid that amount of money too, but there aren't a lot of other alternatives to consider.
Rangers can afford to take the chance
The Rangers are expected to try and trade Trocheck this summer, and doing so will free up nearly $6 million in salary. Once he is moved, McTavish could then replace his spot on the roster at a slight increase. As things currently stand, the Rangers have $26,575,477 in space and a roster size of 20 players without having a lot serious business to take care of this summer.
It might behoove them to take the risk with the potential of getting a win, and it could be a more sound strategy than hoping Connor McDavid or Auston Matthews want to join the team in free agency. The Flyers took a risk in trading for Trevor Zegras, and that's a move that worked out in a big way for them.
McTavish is 6'1" and 219 pounds, and has the size the Rangers look for from their centers. This season he was a little unlucky analytically, and per Evolving-Hockey, he finished with a 43.01 GF%, a 52.15 CF%, and a 49.66 xGF%. For the sake of comparison, Trocheck had a 50.52 GF%, a 49.24 CF%, and a 45.44 xGF% with the Rangers.
Above all else, McTavish has already had some decent seasons and is still a work in progress. The Rangers showed interest in Zibanejad before he reached his potential, and that worked out well for them. McTavish would be a big swing, but it would be a reasonable risk to take given the current standing of the organization. It could help them now and in the future, and is worth considering. Chris Drury and Pat Verbeek have a history already when it comes to trades, so it isn't hard to see them coming together to try and work out a deal.
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